The evolution of 'Spooky Season'
Take a deeper dive into spooky season, and learn more about its origins and evolution, with College of Arts and Sciences Professor Brian Collins in the latest episode of OHIO’s “Ask the Experts” podcast.
October 30, 2025
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It might surprise you to learn that throughout recorded history, every human culture has had some concept of ghosts, that most of the people punished during the witch trials were actually witches, and that for some, ghost stories are a familiar Christmas tradition.
These are just a few of the topics we explore in our podcast interview with Brian Collins, professor and Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies.
Collins has a wide range of expertise in Hinduism as well as a strong knowledge in Buddhism and teaches the ever-popular course, "The Global Occult: Ghosts, Demonology, and the Paranormal in World Religions."
His research has taken him around the world and into the "gate of hell" itself—an experience he recounts in this episode. Spoiler alert: It was "pitch black" and its walls contain the oldest form of Irish writing.
Produced by Ƶ’s Communications and Marketing Department, specifically by Scripps College of Communication junior audio production student Alex Karan, the Ask the Experts podcast allows for even more interdisciplinary collaboration and for students to develop a podcast from start to finish using OHIO’s podcast studio in the Scripps College of Communication.
The podcast is now
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